This year, like last year, the Annual General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association was all virtual, meaning that I and all the thousands of other attendees and delegates met on a virtual platform for worship, business meetings, and workshops. There was business to be done: the election of new board members to the UUA, bylaws changes to be voted on, reports to be heard from various teams.
One of those bylaws revisions was important for a project I am part of, to re-name the three levels of religious education credentialing. But because the old names (Associate, Credentialed, and Master) were in the bylaws of the UUA, we couldn’t rename the levels without removing that detail from the bylaws. So this year the Religious Education Credentialing Committee of the UUA, which I am the Chair of, made the request to the Board that these bylaws be changed. It requires a vote of the General Assembly to approve bylaws changes. It was not controversial, and it passed, so now we can move forward with that project.
Why am I lifting up something as boring as a Bylaws revision? Well, because I want to highlight how important it is for us as people of faith to be both bold and mission driven and also to be careful of the structures and systems that support the work of that mission. Having good bylaws matters, for those are the rules of how we will be together as an organization. So I am glad that we, as an Association, take the time and energy to revisit and revise our bylaws and to elect new leaders. The structure of the association supports the mission, just as the structure of OUUC supports our mission.
We need folks who care about things like bylaws! So, a big thank you to everyone who works on a policy or a team to make us function better. How we are together is important. It enables us to do the work of making our mission real in the world.
Please note, this will be my last Spark article for awhile. I’ll be on Sabbatical July 5-September 1st. I look forward to reconnecting with you all in the Fall.